How do you keep track of your bills?

[K1052]

BoA has e-billing for basically everything I use. I prefer it to autopay since I can look at statements through the portal before paying for anything that looks funky and everything is in one place. I haven't cut a paper check for a bill in years.

 

[JEDIYoda]

if Buffalo doesn`t start playing better, I won`t be keeping track.....

 

[DrPizza]

It's always been an issue of they sent me a bill with mistakes in it (overcharging for stuff). Very common with my experience with Verizon.

The utilities, I wouldn't mind auto paying (even with my bank) since I don't think I've ever gotten a bad bill.

I was going to say, "that's funny..." But, it's the opposite. The only company I've ever had trouble with putting in extra fees for things I never authorized was Verizon. When I finally caught it, they refused to reimburse me for more than the previous month. That was the reason I canceled my land line with them.

 

[Mai72]

I have Bank of America pay my bills every month. You set up the date and they take care of the rest.

Tim Ferris in his book "The 4 Hour Work Week" talks about outsourcing your responsibilities to a firm overseas. Give the firm your bank account, and they will take care of the rest. You pay an Indian guy to pay your bills, while you worry on important stuff in your life.

Sounds like a good idea. No?

 

[boomerang]

Sounds like a good idea. No?

Sounds like a bad idea, yes. My wife's Amex got compromised and the bogus charges were from India.

 

[clamum]

They don't encrypt your data and you WILL be SOL if it's hacked.

What are you talking about? Of course your data is encrypted, jesus. It's no more subject to hacking than your normal bank or credit card website.

I just use an Excel spreadsheet with the name of the bill/credit card, the due date, amount due, amount paid, date paid, and confirmation number. I sort it from newest->oldest by Due Date so my most recent bills are at the top. I check the spreadsheet every few days but generally know in my head the day or days that my next bill(s) are due.

I've tried Mint.com and it is pretty slick and full of features, but it seems to keep having problems with my credit union account, Mohela student loan account, and sometimes a credit card or two. Like it forgets my credentials or something and I have to re-authorize. If I didn't have those issues with it I'd probably use it exclusively cause it's pretty nice.

 

[Thump553]

Bill paying procedure should be governed by three basic rules:
1) KISS (keep it simple)
2) As a basic principle I will never give up control of my money unless there is a very good reason-ie, no autopay
3) As reliable a system as follows

I keep pdfs of all bills. E-bills are fine IF the creditor has it set up so I can easily download a pdf of the bill from my bank's website, otherwise I have them mail me a paper copy (you listening AT&T?).

I keep fifty cent paper calendar and write down each bill in it, cross it off when it is paid. Simple, cheap and gives you at least a clue when a bill doesn't come in this month. Spreadsheets are overkill.

Pay every bill possible with a credit card first (not a debit card), then electronically through your bank. Of course pay the credit card bill in full each month.

I doubt I spend more than an hour a month on my personal and business bills (use the same system for them).

I wonder how many of you that live by autopay don't even look at the bills either. Good way to pay bogus extra charges like cramdowns, etc.

 

[wabbitslayer]

I look at our checking account balance the day after pay day and if there is money in it, I know there's something we didn't pay. :'(

 

[PricklyPete]

Spreadsheet and Mail bin

 

[Exterous]

I'm just amazed by how much work people are apparently willing to put in every month in paying routine bills.

If Verizon does screw up your bill, do you think you're powerless to contest it if it's autopayed? What kind of banks do you people do business with? Or maybe you live hand to mouth, so that an extra $50 charge is going to put you in the red? If so, you have bigger problems than just keeping track of your bills.

It's not that much work. Maybe you don't work very hard for your money but I do so I am willing to spend a tiny bit of my time to make sure it goes where I want it to when I want. And I don't live remotely close to hand to mouth. Doing this work also allows me to do things like pay $300 for two round trip tickets to the UK and 14 nights worth of hotel stays.

Of course you aren't powerless to contest the bill but its far easier to not send them the incorrect amount than to get your money back from them or the bank.

 

[pontifex]

I keep all unpaid bills in sight on a centrally located table. As I pay them, I put them away.

pretty much this...
i use bill pay to pay them

 

[Mai72]

With the internet and auto pay I'm surprised people have difficulty paying their bills on time.

Does anyone still write checks and use snail mail? If so, why?

I have Bank of America. All my bills are setup thru BoA. It couldn't be more simpler. They send out the payments, and it's all done thru them.

As I said earlier, you could outsource your tasks to a company in SE Asia. Find a reputable company and they will do all the work so you don't need to. They will pay your bills, buy your wife flowers, and your children toys for Christmas. Why worry? Let them do it for you!

 

[Mai72]

Sounds like a bad idea, yes. My wife's Amex got compromised and the bogus charges were from India.

If you found a reputable company that wouldn't have happened.

 

[amdhunter]

Everything's on Auto-Pay.

 

[JM Aggie08]

Paperless Statements + Auto-Pay.

 

[Kadarin]

Most things are autopay, the few that aren't get paid electronically once I get the bill.

 

[cronos]

Spreadsheet. All are online payments but I do them all manually (I don't do autopay).

I could've sworn there's a thread about this not too long ago.

 

[Jumpem]

I brought this up in a thread I created and got lambasted by the usual suspects. We've purchased a second residence and the autopays associated with it have now made it impossible to have everything debited from my savings account without exceeding the federal limits. I must now have some debited from my checking account. The transfer from my savings to checking counts against the six debit limit so it was a bit of a juggling act to try and do it the way I desire. I "solved" it by keeping a higher balance in the checking account and setting up autopays from it. But I didn't want to keep a large balance in the checking account.

Just to be clear for anyone interested, there is a six debit limit from a savings or money market account per month. An automatic debit or a transfer to another account counts against that limit. Those limitations are not in place with a checking account. If you operate solely out of a checking account the sky's the limit. Regulation D seems petty and outmoded to me.

This is exactly why there are limits. Savings accounts are not intended to be used as a bill paying account.

 

[alkemyst]

I don't even read my bills anymore. I pay everything online whether autopay or not.

I have a spreadsheet I built that has the due date of my bills and includes my further paychecks. I update it with my daily debits/purchases.

I only have to balance my checkbook every few months and most of the time it's dead-on or just missing one or two meals.

 

[MongGrel]

My wife used to be an office manager, so I just let her do it.

She does everything online, and uses quickbooks. I haven't really had to worry about it in many years.

She does them manually though, but online and always reviews things.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It's 2014. I setup all utilities to be auto withdraw and it's been set and forget ever since. I even managed to setup my city taxes that way. by default you need to pay it manually in two installments per year, but I don't tend to have 2-3 grand just sitting around, so I rather just have it come out every month instead, works out nicely. Once in a while I go through my online banking transactions to ensure there's nothing weird going on, and that's about it.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I wonder how many of you that live by autopay don't even look at the bills either. Good way to pay bogus extra charges like cramdowns, etc.

Four of my autopays are a flat monthly fee. If the charge goes up or down, it's pretty damned noticeable. The others, my utilities, are consistent from month to month and year to year, with the differences being seasonal due to heating or A/C use.

My only (slight) reservation among all of the autopays, is with Comcast, who emails me a monthly billing statement, but forthcoming changes to monthly fees aren't sent out by email (probably their idea of privacy). You can only see changes if you visit their CS site online, which I only do occasionally.

Where I must use a credit card for autopay, I use a debit card, so that everything goes through a checking account. Then I look at the checking acct statement online every month or two and _everything_ is there in front of me. A couple times a year I go to the various billing sites and look at the statements and pop the monthly totals into a spreadsheet.

I write zero checks each month and I never use a credit or debit card to manually pay bills. At today's savings account rates, keeping money in the checking account probably costs me a dollar or two per year.

 

[Red Squirrel]

If by chance an auto pay error occurs, I can deal with it then. The hassle will be worth it to consider I don't have any reoccurring hassle paying every single other bill.

It's never ever happened to me. Though, with companies these days constantly selling your information I suppose a legit worry is that some sell your banking information too so that other companies can randomly take money out, but I have not heard of that happening... yet. It would probably be illegal.

 

[alkemyst]

Bill paying procedure should be governed by three basic rules:
1) KISS (keep it simple)
2) As a basic principle I will never give up control of my money unless there is a very good reason-ie, no autopay
3) As reliable a system as follows

I keep pdfs of all bills. E-bills are fine IF the creditor has it set up so I can easily download a pdf of the bill from my bank's website, otherwise I have them mail me a paper copy (you listening AT&T?).

I keep fifty cent paper calendar and write down each bill in it, cross it off when it is paid. Simple, cheap and gives you at least a clue when a bill doesn't come in this month. Spreadsheets are overkill.

Pay every bill possible with a credit card first (not a debit card), then electronically through your bank. Of course pay the credit card bill in full each month.

I doubt I spend more than an hour a month on my personal and business bills (use the same system for them).

I wonder how many of you that live by autopay don't even look at the bills either. Good way to pay bogus extra charges like cramdowns, etc.

You seem to have a lot of free time you are willing to give to this.

 

[boomerang]

This is exactly why there are limits. Savings accounts are not intended to be used as a bill paying account.

That's an interesting position to take but one that is very outdated. There are a slew of good reasons for paying bills from a savings account.

The biggest one in our current climate is debit card fraud. Why keep a large sum in an account that could potentially be compromised? We seem to hear of a breach every few weeks.

Few people actually write checks anymore. The Federal Reserve, for those not aware of who is dictating this policy, needs to get with the times. Why essentially require people to have a checking account to meet some outdated thinking? Money is money. What account it is in is immaterial. Having a savings account for those that are savvy enough to save does not drive the actual saving, that comes from a desire to accumulate funds. Those that see the value in that will do it regardless of the title affixed to any particular account.

The Fed is run by old guys that think in old ways. It's time for them to move from the days of the typewriter to the keyboard. If I exceed six debits for three consecutive months my bank tell me that they must close my accounts. What kind of bizarre policy is that? Who benefits from it? I've received one warning letter in the past.

I'd like to utilize my accounts in the manner I desire without some quasi-government agency dictating to me how it must be done. I don't think that's too much to ask.